Mary-Ellis Bunim: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know


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Producers Mary-Ellis Bunim (L) and Jonathan Murray arrive at the premiere of “The Real Cancun”

Mary-Ellis Bunim is one of the founding producers of reality TV as we know it. She is talked about extensively in the new ABC special The Story of Soaps, a retrospective on soap operas that looks at the heyday of soaps and also their decline, which a lot of experts in the special attribute in part to the rise of reality TV.

Here’s what you need to now about Bunim and how her legacy is still seen today throughout the television landscape.


1. Bunim Got Her Start in Daytime TV

VideoVideo related to mary-ellis bunim: 5 fast facts you need to know2020-05-19T20:50:42-04:00

The reason Bunim is talked about so heavily in The Story of Soaps is that not only did she create a lot of reality TV as we know it, but she got her start producing soap operas. She oversaw over 2500 hours of daytime TV, according to the New York Times, including Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, Santa Barbara and Loving.

“Mary-Ellis Bunim was like the queen of daytime soaps,” said producing partner Jonathan Murray in the ABC special. “She had executive produced a number of them. When I got together with her to create The Real World, the year was 1991 and the thought process was driven by desperation. We were having a hard time [in daytime TV].

“When we talked to MTV about The Real World, we basically pitched it as a docu-soap. We took so much of what had been learned in daytime storytelling and applied it to these real stories.”


2. She Took a Huge Risk Leaving Daytime TV To Start Her Own Company

First 10 Minutes of the First Ever ‘Real World’ Episode | MTVTo celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Real World on Sunday, relive the first act from the first ever episode! Watch the iconic first seasons here: http://on.mtv.com/2qBdNSJ #MTV #RealWorld Subscribe to MTV: http://goo.gl/NThuhC More from MTV: Official MTV Website: http://www.mtv.com/ Like MTV: https://www.facebook.com/MTV Follow MTV: https://twitter.com/MTV MTV Google+: http://goo.gl/OGY79b MTV on Tumblr: http://mtv.tumblr.com/ MTV Instagram: http://instagram.com/mtv MTV on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mtv/ #MTV is your destination for the hit series Wild ‘N Out, Are You the One?, Scream, Teen Wolf, Teen Mom and much more!2017-05-21T15:58:52Z

In 1987, Bunim co-founded Bunim-Murray Productions with Murray. The two would go on to develop some of the most iconic reality TV shows of all time. But before they hit it big, it was a huge risk leaving the job security and steady paycheck of daytime TV.

“Those first couple of years of BMP were rocky,” wrote Bunim’s daughter Juliana in a 2012 essay for The Hollywood Reporter. “At the time, I didn’t understand the magnitude of the risk my mom had taken by leaving the security of working in soaps to start a business with a guy who had an entirely different background from hers.

“My mom always laughed when remembering how she and Jon signed up for French lessons because, as she said, they needed something to do while waiting for the phone to ring. But she and Jon didn’t give up. Finally, one of their pilots, a show about young people living in a loft, was picked up.”


3. Bunim-Murray Productions Created Dozens of Reality TV Shows

Jonathan Murray on the creation of MTV’s “The Real World” – TelevisionAcademy.com/InterviewsFull interview at: http://TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews2012-02-24T16:02:17Z

BMP was initially tasked with creating a scripted soap opera for MTV called St. Marks Place, a show about a group of college-aged kids in New Yorks East Village. But MTV execs balked when they heard how expensive that was going to be to produce. Instead, BMP pitched them their idea about The Real World and, according to a 2013 Emmys profile of Bunim and Murray, “thirty-eight thousand dollars and a long weekend later, a pilot emerged, which tested, as Murray recalls, through the roof, and MTV signed on.”

The Real World is undoubtedly BMPs biggest show. It aired on MTV from 1992 to 2017, then aired on Facebook Watch in 2019. It spawned several international versions of itself, plus a couple of spinoffs: Road Rules, which was a sister show in that it had a different format, and The Challenge, which is currently airing its 35th season.

But that is hardly the only “TV tree” Bunim-Murray Productions sprouted. The company is also responsible for Keeping Up With the Kardashians and all of its spinoffs, Miz and Mrs., Project Runway, Surviving R. Kelly, Total Bellas, Total Divas, Bad Girls Club and its spinoffs, The Simple Life, Undressed, and many many more.

“They essentially created the genre,” Mark Itkin, the William Morris agent who introduced Murray and Bunim, told the Emmys in 2013. “As far as I’m concerned, they deserve full credit for really establishing the non-scripted series business.”


3. Bunim Died of Breast Cancer in 2004

In January 2004, Bunim passed away at the age of 57 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.

“Mary-Ellis was a one-in-a-million partner and friend, and I will always treasure our incredible years of collaboration,” her producing partner Murray told CNN at the time. “Even as the family at Bunim-Murray Productions mourns her loss, we will honor her memory by remaining committed to her ideals of creativity, adventure, and excellence, both on the screen and in our lives.”

In the THR essay, Juliana wrote of her mother, “Today, my mom’s legacy lives on in [Bunim-Murray Productions]. It also lives in me. I will never forget her indomitable spirit pushing everyone around her to innovate, embrace life, and bring a little magic to what they do.”


4. Juliana Grew Up Helping Cast The Real World

Kit Hoover Looks Back Her Wildest ‘Road Rules’ Memories: ‘I Still Can’t Believe That I Did That!’More than two decades ago, Access Live’s own Kit Hoover was a cast member on the first season of MTV’s “Road Rules”! Access Live co-host Scott Evans and guest co-host Melissa Peterman look back through her funniest moments on the show – from being a hungover circus clown to stripping down at a nudist trailer park! » SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/AHSub » Visit Our Website: http://www.AccessOnline.com/ Get More Access: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accessonline Twitter: https://twitter.com/accessonline Instagram: http://instagram.com/accessonline Snapchat: OfficialAccess About Access: “Access ” is a nationally syndicated daily entertainment news show. “Access” delivers the most comprehensive coverage of entertainment news and personalities on television, featuring in-depth celebrity interviews and behind-the-scenes accounts of the most important events in Hollywood. Kit Hoover Looks Back Her Wildest ‘Road Rules’ Memories: ‘I Still Can’t Believe That I Did That!’ | Access Access https://www.youtube.com/accessonline2018-08-17T22:46:31Z

Mary-Ellis’ daughter Juliana attended the University of California, Berkeley, and is a partner at Lighthouse Public Affairs in San Francisco, according to her LinkedIn profile. Juliana is also a former journalist for The Street and the San Francisco Examiner, and a former senior vice president for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. But before all of that, she grew up helping her mom produce The Real World.

In her essay for THR, Juliana wrote about how crazy it was navigating adolescence when The Real World was becoming one of the hottest shows on TV and living with its co-creator.

“I was 11 when The Real World premiered, and in many ways, as an only child, the show was the sibling I never had,” write Bunim. “Almost nightly, a runner would arrive at our door lugging several bins overflowing with VHS tapes with auditions of wannabe cast members. With my mom on the couch and me perched under the VCR feverishly feeding tapes, she’d say, ‘No, no, no’ (with the occasional ‘yes’) to the candidates.

“I quickly learned what traits resonated, what unique qualities stood out and whom she would respond to. I remember us finding Heather B. from the first Real World in New York and Rachel Campos from Real World: San Francisco. I would prescreen the tapes, pulling out the highlights on the nights she didn’t have time to watch them all. I knew that for my mother, finding the story mattered most of all. … My mom thought bigger than anyone and saw life through the lens of a storyteller.”

The Challenge still airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

MTV ‘The Challenge’ Season 35 Spoilers: Who Are the Predicted Winners?



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